Aluminum armor reinforced by commercially available alumina tiles is presently fabricated by a relatively slow and costly process, which involves precise cutting of the tiles to size, accurate placement of such tiles within an aluminum block that is carefully machined in accordance with the tile configuration. The block then undergoes closing and/or welding before final machining to size. Such fabricating process is laborious, time consuming and costly.
Various relevant prior art techniques are available, involving centrifugal casting, coating of aluminum and casting molds, as well as heat treatment of aluminum and reinforcement thereof. Such prior art does not however teach or suggest elimination of cut, set and welding aspects of prior fabrication methods. It is therefore an important object of the present invention to provide a more rapid and less costly method of fabricating tile reinforced composite metal armor.